How Obama’s unique background shaped his outlook on race

Posted in Articles, Barack Obama, Media Archive, Politics/Public Policy, United States, Videos on 2016-12-22 18:47Z by Steven

How Obama’s unique background shaped his outlook on race

PBS NewsHour
2016-12-21

Judy Woodruff, Co-Anchor & Managing Editor

The Atlantic’s Ta-Nehisi Coates has criticized President Obama’s policies toward black Americans. Perhaps for that reason, he was invited to discuss such issues with Mr. Obama several times throughout the president’s second term. As part of a collaboration with The Atlantic, Coates speaks with Judy Woodruff about his latest Atlantic cover story, which considers Mr. Obama’s legacy and rare optimism through a racial lens.

JUDY WOODRUFF: As President Obama winds down his time in the White House, we will be looking back at the legacy of his presidency in the coming weeks. Tonight, as part of our partnership with “The Atlantic” magazine, my conversation with writer Ta-Nehisi Coates about his cover story, “My President was Black.”

TA-NEHISI COATES, The Atlantic: I think so many African-Americans got so much joy out of the image of Barack and Michelle and Malia and Sasha, the first family, and that was going away, and there was a kind of sadness.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Can you put into words how much his election meant in the first place?

TA-NEHISI COATES: The notion of an African-American president for black people was perceived as being so impossible that most of the great sort of representations of it are in comedy. It’s just a moment that seemed so impossible and so far off that actually it came to be, it actually happened…

View the story here.

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